TFcon is very happy to welcomeEric Siebenaler former Senior Product Designer on the Transformers brand to TFcon Los Angeles 2019. Siebenaler is best known in the fandom for being largely responsible for developing the Transformers Animated series, serving as its lead designer and will be involved in a Q&A panel and will have a table at the convention. Eric Siebenaler is presented byThe Chosen Prime.

LOS ANGELES TO HOST TRANSFORMERS GENERATION 1 REUNION EVENT

Thousands of fans from around the world will converge on the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel & Convention Center to participate in TFcon USA 2019; a 3-day colossal Transformers event to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Transformers franchise (March 15-17, 2019).

At the end-of-show Q&A, they said that this was their most successful con to date, so I assume there’s a very good chance.

awesome, that sounds very optimistic, like a very good chance they will have another TFCon in California or the West Coast in the near future, it would be convenient for the VA's since its like their backyard, and for especially the elderly ones, because traveling becomes more difficult as you get up there in age. I hope Bud Davis or Corey Burton can attend one day, it sadly reminds me that Bud Davis had to cancel his appearance at TFCon in Chicago last Fall due to unfortuneate circumstances, I hope that doesn't forever ruin his chances of coming to a future TFCon, but obviously, he's definetley not a youngster anymore.

I had to work a booth and didn't get to have too much fun, but being at a transformers con for the first time in about 10 years was great. I asked the chosen prime guys if they planned on having another tfcon in Cali, but they didn't seem to have a definite answer.

Because they are the Presenting Sponsor of TFcon, they don't actually plan the show.

Getting random guests the weekend of is a great surprise but also terrible for fans that travel a long distance to be there and didn't know to pack or ship items for that guest.

tbs

Agreed. I almost made the trip to Cali at the last minute, and if I did, I was going to bring my Vince DiCola stuff with me to sign just in case he showed up. And he did. I'm hoping to get him some other time. I may message his page on FB and see if he'd accept a mail in package with return postage included.

My money is that Cali becomes a repeat occurence. I once spoke with Pete from botcon a number of years ago (this would have probably been at Joecon 2011), and asked what the chances of Botcon coming back to Orlando would be, and he mentioned that it wouldn't be very likely. I asked why, and he mentioned that most everything was easier to do in Cali, as they had larger guaranteed foot traffic and attendance, and that the proximity to many of the guests residences made getting autograph guests much cheaper and easier than doing shows elsewhere in the country. If I understand, for voice actors (and especially the TF segment), it's either Southern California, or Vancouver Canada (which was where most of the Beast Wars actors were located I believe).

Think about it: How were they "randomly" able to get several additional guests on the weekend of a convention. No way they'd be able to pull that off anywhere else in the country.

Getting random guests the weekend of is a great surprise but also terrible for fans that travel a long distance to be there and didn't know to pack or ship items for that guest.

My money is that Cali becomes a repeat occurence. I once spoke with Pete from botcon a number of years ago (this would have probably been at Joecon 2011), and asked what the chances of Botcon coming back to Orlando would be, and he mentioned that it wouldn't be very likely. I asked why, and he mentioned that most everything was easier to do in Cali, as they had larger guaranteed foot traffic and attendance, and that the proximity to many of the guests residences made getting autograph guests much cheaper and easier than doing shows elsewhere in the country. If I understand, for voice actors (and especially the TF segment), it's either Southern California, or Vancouver Canada (which was where most of the Beast Wars actors were located I believe).

Think about it: How were they "randomly" able to get several additional guests on the weekend of a convention. No way they'd be able to pull that off anywhere else in the country.

Surprisingly the unofficial theme of this conversation seemed to be G2. Almost every vendor seemed to have g2 stuff or diaclone toys.

I had to work a booth and didn't get to have too much fun, but being at a transformers con for the first time in about 10 years was great. I asked the chosen prime guys if they planned on having another tfcon in Cali, but they didn't seem to have a definite answer.

I doubt anyone could possibly have a "definite answer" so soon on the heels of the completion of their first CA-based TFCon ever, but I gather that they were extremely pleased with how things turned out, and so I consider it likely that they'll return.

Will they turn to a three-convention-a-year schedule going forward? I'm not sure I expect that. I also recognize that the sheer volume of guests we got this year (especially from G1) was a special occurrence not readily repeatable.

But, again, I think it likely they'll come back, at least in the not-too-distant future.

Surprisingly the unofficial theme of this conversation seemed to be G2. Almost every vendor seemed to have g2 stuff or diaclone toys.

I had to work a booth and didn't get to have too much fun, but being at a transformers con for the first time in about 10 years was great. I asked the chosen prime guys if they planned on having another tfcon in Cali, but they didn't seem to have a definite answer.

Just came back from TFCon and it was a wonderful experience! The last couple of shows in Toronto, Chicago and DC were just half days for me but because it was in LA this year (six hour drive from the SF Bay area) I was able to do the full weekend this time. Much thanks to everyone who helped put this show together and of course to the great guests who spent their time with us fans. You could see and sense the giddiness of the writers and actors, some of them haven’t seen some of their peers in years, if not decades! I mostly concentrated on getting autographs, but I did get a few items from dealers:

This is a well done reproduction of the Diaclone Powered Buggy that was packed with Diaclone Ultra Magnus. It's a partsformer similar to a Cog or Full Tilt. The dealer said a friend of his made these and he gave me a great deal!

Also bought a MMC penguins blind pack. I got two clear oranges and a blue. The extra orange will go into my MMC Felisaber who I'm using as Catilla in my classics collection. Unless someone out there wants to trade a clear red for my extra orange?

One huge highlight of the show was that Paul Davids, writer and production coordinator for the G1 cartoon brought with him a treasure trove of historical Transformers lore. He had episode scripts, actor call sheets, animation cels, internal Sunbow memos and correspondence, a book of character models, the fabled scale charts, storyboards, etc. Just gotta give him so much kudos for sharing these with us and talking about how the cartoon was made!

Mr Davids with the scale chart for the Predacons

This is just one image but he had the full animation sequence of Metroplex throwing Trypticon over his shoulder from their epic battle:

"Rust in Peace" must have been the unused tile for the G1 episode "Cosmic Rust"

The script for "The Return of Optimus Prime"!

On Sunday Morning before the show I walked around the hotel and found this, I know some fans could see the logo on the building from their rooms but I didn't have that view!

Speaking as someone who couldn't make the con, but did do mail in stuff for autographs:

As cool as it was that they kept getting new guests, it was really frustrating for me that they were doing so. As they kept announcing new additions (and I'm talking the days of the convention), I had to frantically email the mail in company to see if they could accomodate the requests (which, unfortunately, they weren't able to). I suppose this is the nature of conventions, and not being able to attend, but it would have been nice to not have to be constantly checking the TFCon fb page to see if I needed to send another email.